As some readers of this blog may be aware I'm a big fan of Large Format photography. The whole essence of the process from setup to taking the image has always been an art in itself - and in the most part a very enjoyable one.

Around three weeks ago I was running a two day workshop with Joe Cornish at Paddy's Hole - a small, quaint yet run down fishing harbour at the mouth of the River Tees.

During the workshop one of the participant's batteries went flat and he didn't have a spare. I therefore offered to lend him my Panasonic Lumix G1 as we still had another couple of hours to go before last light. Delighted at this, we set it up on my tripod where we were located on the outer collar of the harbour, which is made up of sharp craggy rocks.

It's been over eighteen months since I visited the Isle of Skye and took this image of the Cuillins from Elgol. However, having scanned it using my Epson V700 scanner, I was always aware that I could glean just that little bit more information from the transparency using a drum scanner. In particular the left rock jutting into the sea, which simply blocked up in the shadows.

'Revealed Age' is another image from my excursion to Port Mulgrave last December. I was drawn to the deep golden rust of the corrugated iron which contrasts so well with the equally worn outer layer of years of paint.

Recently, I decided to take a run to the coast to do some close-up work. A genre that I am finding more and more pleasurable.

Initially, I stopped at Staithes in order to wander around underneath Boulby Cliffs as the tide was out. Unfortunately, the only image that inspired me to get the camera out was being hounded by my shadow due to the sun being directly behind me. No matter what I did, this particular image just had to wait for another day.

Now that I am the proud owner of the fabulous Epson 4900 printer I’ve been thinking of all those new opportunities around experimenting with fine art papers. I particularly enjoy viewing monochrome images on fine art paper due, I think, to the way it renders those grey tones in a much more delicate way than other materials.

What with running five separate photo workshops, getting the Staircase Gallery up and running plus trying to make some autumn images of my own it seems like an age since I was on the Isle of Arran – yet it was only three weeks ago! Phew, time just seems to have flown by since!

I seem to have my seasons mixed up at the moment what with an Autumn woodland image posted in July and now a fresh spring-like image with bluebells. I even have an image I made on Skye last year just being drum scanned by Tim Parkin that I haven’t worked on yet! However, due to this year being more than hectic for me, it’s only just now that I’m able to catch up and add my favourite images to the website (although slow image making is pretty much the norm for large format photographers).

I came across today’s image back in June. John and I decided to have a wander into Wensleydale for the day to seek out new opportunities (aren’t we always doing that?!). We headed for Bainbridge first and then our idea was to pan out from there, studying the OS Map and generally getting to know the area more photographically. Stopping off for coffee at the local cafe, we planned our day to recce the area around Little Moss just North West of Bainbridge itself and then to check out Semer Water to the South.

I recently had chance to visit a lavender farm near Terrington, York a few weeks ago and I have to say I thoroughly enjoyed experimenting with the new Lumix G3 camera I’d borrowed. It was the ideal camera for getting in among all the lavender and other brightly coloured flowers to make a few pics. However, it was a tad blustery and along with no cloud cover I knew it would be rather difficult to make anything decent here.

It seems rather peculiar to be posting images of Autumn in Summer but just like last week’s image I’m playing catch up after renewing the website. If nothing else it whets my appetite for this year’s autumnal colours to come!

Today’s image is of a Cercidiphyllum Japonicum – a small tree which I just love in the Autumn. The colours are delightful and rich and, as can be seen, very varied. I took some time working out the composition of the tree as there were many options I could have gone for. However, I really like this one.

Anybody that has read my past blogs will know that I’m a keen advocate of the Panasonic range of cameras. Owning a G1 for the last two years I’ve always found the operation of the camera absolutely ideal for landscape photography. Of course this doesn’t mean I’ve given up on Large Format (not by any means!), but there are times I find it useful to use digital – particularly when I wish to make panoramic images or simple abstracts as mentioned in last week’s blog (oh for the want of a Phase One back – all donations gratefully received! ;).

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